Gunsmith for barrel fitting

[Stan Hillis]

I say this cautiously, but be very, very careful before deciding to send a barrel set for fitting to a gunsmith you do not have several good references from. I once sent a set of absolutely brand new barrels to one of the most well known, and recommended, doublegunsmiths in the country to have fitted to a gun I had in order to have a two barrel set. Again, this 'smith, now retired, was one of the country's "go to" doublegun smiths.

He totally botched the job and thought he had done a good job, even bragging to me on how easy it was. I guess it must have been easy. He "ovaled" the bite in the hook and when I received it from him the right barrel had at least .008" daylight between barrel breech and standing breech, and the left barrel only had about 30% contact with the standing breech. He nearly ruined a brand new set of barrels and thought he did a good job. I was flabbergasted.

Having gone through the process of trying, and I mean trying, to fit a set of barrels myself I can attest to the extreme amount of skill and knowledge necessary to do it right. By right I mean both barrel breeches making 80%+ contact with the standing breech, along with everything else fitting exactly right.

I don't know of any job in doublegunsmithing that requires a higher level of skill, knowledge and patience.

[edgarspencer]

I have fitted four barrels and in all cases, they were too tight to start with, as opposed to too loose. One took only a few hours and was done by bedtime. Another took nearly a week of tweaking and sweating bullets. They were all my own guns, and if I know nothing else, I know I'd never do it on someone else's gun. In every case, I spent hours measuring before I began, so I had a clear picture of what it was going to take. It took longer to find the right donor barrel than fitting it, and finding the right one is like finding that 'needle in a haystack'.